EU crisis won’t stop RBI’s stimulus exit
The Reserve Bank of India will continue with its calibrated exit from an expansive monetary policy despite the European crisis, governor, Dr D. Subbarao, said.
“We must do a calibrated exit from the expansionary stance that we had taken during the (global economic) crisis,” Dr Subbarao told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on banking technology.
He said inflation remains a concern in the wake of rising demand-side pressure in the economy. “Even as growth is picking up momentum, there is concern on the inflation side... what has started off as supply side inflation is getting more generalised,” Dr Subbarao said.
The RBI, he said, is keeping a watch on growth and inflation dynamics and inflation could be coming back to 5.5 per cent by March 2011. However, he admitted that headline inflation has risen faster than expected and the bank may revisit the projected inflation figure for March 2011 in the July policy.
On the issue of deregulation of interest rates, Dr Subbarao said that once the base rate system comes into effect on July 1, only lending rates for agriculture and exports and deposit rate on savings bank accounts will remain regulated.
He said RBI wants a debate on deregulating interest on savings bank rates. “We are for deregulation but we want to time it appropriately. We want to make sure that deregulation of savings bank interest rates encourage financial inclusion.”
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